Always be apprenticing…

Our firm, SeedPlus, hosted an afternoon of discussion or brainstorming the other day. About 4 hours of a guided but mostly an agenda free afternoon. 

It was humbling, informative and eye opening to say the least. We had other VC’s in the room, entrepreneurs who have exited, entrepreneurs looking to start another journey and some folks in executive roles from some large SEA companies.

We asked questions, they asked each other questions and they asked us questions. What I realized, and what I find so amazing about learning to be a VC, is there is just so much to learn with so many people to glean it from.

Looking at this wiki :: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_theory_of_apprenticeship

By developing similar performance to other practitioners, an apprentice will come to understand the tacit (informally taught) duties of the position. In the process of creating this awareness, the learner also affect their environment; as they are accepted by master practitioners, their specific talents and contributions within the field are taken into account and integrated into the overall practice.

During this meeting I was experiencing a 360 degree session of learning – from other VC’s, my partners, entrepreneurs and execs. I realize that this access is one of a kind and I have to respect the position this affords me. I am basically apprenticing from multiple facets all at once.

I still need to grok how best to use this but one thing I increasingly feel is that there is no going back. The journey to become a great VC will be long but given the chance to associate with folks greater than me is infinitely rewarding.

I sometimes feel our society is letting people down by creating single paths to supposedly doing well in life. Go to good school and then try to get a good job. It won’t work for everyone and wasn’t what happened to me. If along the way our kids could apprentice more we might be able to foster crafts and continue to create good employment.

As someone with a few kids, I worry a lot about this and continue to think about where this is all going.

Maybe the “future of work” or how one prepares for the future of work is a topic for SP Brainstorm #2.